HOW TO PLAY

Fable Fortune is a Collectible Card Game based on the Fable franchise. Whether you’re reliving classic Fable moments, or using your cards to create new ones, this handy guide will help you pick up the basics and jump straight into the chicken kicking action!

Cards in Fable Fortune come in two distinct types; Units and Spells.

UNIT CARDS

Unit cards are beings which will occupy a space on the board when played and remain there until removed. Units have two core stats: Strength - How much damage the Unit will do when attacking/defending. Health - How durable the Unit is. If this number reaches zero then it will be destroyed. Units can also have ‘abilities’, useful effects which can be triggered in a variety of ways for different bonuses. For example the Hired Assassin has a Big Entrance ability which is triggered when played to the board.

SPELL CARDS

Spell cards will unleash a powerful ability when cast before disappearing. There are all sorts of Spell cards with a range of unique abilities including making a Unit stronger, dealing damage, drawing more cards or even returning a card from the battlefield to your hand. Both Unit and Spell cards have a ‘Gold Cost’ (the value in the top left) which shows how much Gold the player must have before playing that card.

PICKING A DECK

The first thing you will need to play a game of Fortune will be a Deck. A Deck is a composition of cards from your collection which you will draw from during the match. When creating a deck it will be subject to the following rules:

The deck must contain 30 cards, no more, no less.

Certain cards can only be used by certain Heroes.

Decks cannot contain more than 2 copies of any cards of Mythic rarity or lower.

Decks cannot contain more than 1 copy of any cards of Fabled rarity.

Other than that, the sky's the limit on how you construct your deck; never has building an army of Hobbes been so easy.

Not ready to build a deck yet? No problem. Right from the get go you’ll have access to a pre-constructed deck for each Hero to help you get started.

GAME BOARD

Each player has a ‘hand’, a selection of playable cards drawn from their respective decks. You will draw a certain amount of cards at the start of the game, then one additional card at the start of each turn. Cards with a green outline are playable whilst cards without a green outline will require an additional condition to be met, such as how much Gold you currently have.

Your Hero is the focal point of play. On the centre of their plinth you’ll find their Health value in the heart shaped container; if this value drops to 0, it's game over! Above your Hero's Health is their morality level. Each Hero starts off as neutral at the start of play but can earn 3 points of Good or Evil by completing Quests in order to gain amazing bonuses!

Every Hero has their own ‘Hero Power’; a powerful ability usable once per turn for a cost. Each Hero Power is tailored to that specific Hero’s playstyle. For example the Shapeshifter can use her Balverine claws to deal damage to an enemy. Powers are also affected by your Hero’s morality and will gain powerful modifiers dependant on their Good or Evil points.

Dictate the flow of each battle by forcing your opponent to attack a specific target! For the cost of 1 Gold you can place one of your active Units in ‘Guard’ until your next turn. Units in Guard must be removed from play before any other Unit/Hero can be targeted by normal attacks. The Guard button is a great way to protect important Units or keep yourself alive long enough to turn the tide of battle.

Gold is one of your most important resources. Playing cards, using your Hero Power and putting Units in Guard all cost different amounts of Gold. At the start of the game both you and your opponent have 3 Gold, a number which will increase by 1 each subsequent turn up to a maximum of 10. You Gold chest will also be refilled at the start of each turn, so that you can play a fresh flurry of cards.

At the start of the game you will be prompted to choose a ‘Quest’, a mini objective unique to the Arena you’re playing in. For example one of the Quests in The Crucible requires you to “Play Units with more Strength than Health”. Fulfilling this task will not only award you a specific card to your hand, but will also allow you to choose to gain a point of either Good or Evil.

The board is where the majority of gameplay will take place. Both you and your opponent have your own section on which you can each place up to six Units and cast Spells, providing you have enough Gold to spend on it.

This is a Unit, they have multiple different uses. You can cast Spells on them, attack with them, destroy them or use them as meat shields. Many Units also have abilities which will trigger under certain circumstances, giving you bonuses and other special effects that can prove as powerful and varied as Spell cards when used correctly.

The core objective of the game will be to reduce your opponent's Health to zero. It won’t be easy though as they’ll be trying to do the same to you and they’ll have their own Hero Power, Guard button, Quests and deck full of Units and Spells to help them try and do it.

Your deck is a composition of 30 cards which you take into the battle with you. At the start of the game it will be shuffled and dealt out to you, first as a hand, then as 1 card at the start of each turn. You can also use your Spells and Unit abilities to draw additional cards from your deck to maximise the options your current hand gives you!

Each turn will last a maximum of 90 seconds but you can also choose to end your turn at any point by hitting the End Turn button. This will generally be when you run out of moves, but it's also not a bad idea to hold some cards back in certain circumstances.

PLAYING THE GAME

Now lets see all of this in action by running through an example game: Shapeshifter Vs Knight in The Crucible!

CHOOSE A QUEST

The first thing each player must do when the game begins is choose a Quest. Of the three Crucible Quests the Shapeshifter is choosing ‘Albion's Got Magic: Play 2 Damaging Spells’ as her deck is built around direct damage with an emphasis on Spells.

MULLIGAN

Next, each player is dealt a hand of cards from their deck. The Shapeshifter has been randomly selected to go first so they draw 4 cards. The player now has the ability to select certain cards to be put back in the deck to draw new ones in their place. She chooses to put Savage Charge back into her deck as its high Gold cost makes it less usable at the start of the game when the player only has a small Gold supply. She draws Blooded Balverine in its place.

DRAW A CARD

The Shapeshifter's turn now commences properly and they draw a card from their deck, the Scarecrow. They will continue to draw a card at the start of each turn until they reach their maximum hand size of 10.

PLAYING CARDS

The Shapeshifter starts off by playing a Feral Squirrel from her hand to the board, this costs 1 Gold to do as indicated on the card, taking her down to 2 Gold overall. Most Units are ‘Bound’ on the turn which they are played, meaning that they cannot attack until your next turn, so this Squirrel will have to wait.

HERO POWER

The Shapeshifter still has 2 Gold left so she uses her Hero Power, ‘Rend’ to deal 1 damage to her opponent directly. She can use this power once per turn against any enemy to deal damage, however this isn’t its only application. Some cards have abilities triggered by Hero Powers, for instance the Feral Squirrel gains 1 Strength whenever Rend (or a Spell card) is used!

END TURN

With this turn's Gold now exhausted the Shapeshifter has no other moves she can make, so it's time to end her turn. Control will now be handed over to the opponent who will use their own cards to respond to the turn the Shapeshifter just took. This back and forth will continue until one of the players reduces the opponent's Health to 0.

USING GUARD

The opponent plays a Ferryman for 2 Gold, they then spend their last piece of Gold to put it in Guard until the beginning of their next turn and create a strong defence. When a Unit is in Guard the opposing player can only attack the Guarding Unit with their Units until the Guarding Unit is destroyed or somehow removed from Guard. This means that the Shapeshifter cannot attack the Guildmaster directly with the Ferryman in Guard.

CASTING A SPELL

The Guildmaster ends their turn and control is passed back to the Shapeshifter. She plays the Spell ‘Stunning Slash’ on the Ferryman. Stunning Slash will deal 1 damage to the Ferryman and Stun it, leaving it unable to attack on the next turn. As it is a Spell, it will also increase the Feral Squirrels Strength, AND count towards the Shapeshifter’s Quest.

ATTACKING

As the Shapeshifter’s Feral Squirrel has been on the board for a turn, it can be used to attack! When one Unit attacks another Unit, damage is dealt to both simultaneously. The Feral Squirrel now has 3 Strength which is subtracted from the Ferryman's 3 Health, destroying it. The Ferryman only has 1 Strength, which is subtracted from the Feral Squirrel’s 2 Health meaning the Squirrel survives to be feral another day.

CO-OP MODE

Don’t face danger alone! Grab a friend, or a stranger straight from the Heroes’ Guild, and head back to the world of Fable to take on some of Albion's mightiest in Fable Fortunes unique Co-Op mode.

In Co-Op you and your ally will face off against a boss plucked directly from the Fable universe; they’ll have their own unique deck, Hero power and boss cards that will put you and your companion's cards to the true test!

SHARING IS CARING

For the most part Co-Op is relatively similar to PvP; you and your ally will each have your own Hero, deck, hand and Quests (take note: in Co-Op you and your ally cannot play as the same Hero). However once a Unit is played to the shared board, both players will be able to take control of it. You will also take turns with your ally to play, with the Boss taking a turn in between each player turn.

Keep in mind, whilst it is your ally or the boss's turn, though you cannot play any cards, you can use the breadcrumb trail to make suggestions on what your ally should do next by highlighting points of interest or propose that one Unit attacks another.

With that in mind you should be ready to fight side-by-side with another brave Hero to reduce the boss’s Health to zero! But be wary, the boss will be trying to do the same to you and you share Health with your ally so it's both of your hides on the line!